Daily Times

One has always held the view that there is no such thing as a coincidence and hence the word has no place in the English dictionary. Historically, and as opined before, the word might have had a utility in the days of the empire to explain away adverse events in the colonies, but now appears to be largely superfluous. Then again, considering recent global happenings, maybe not. Lately there has been a long tail of coincidences, emphasis on tail, around the Muslim world that, if nothing else, has brought the word ‘coincidence’ back into the limelight.

Let us start with Gaza. The death toll stands at more than 2,100 and, apparently, there is a dispute on how many of these are civilian casualties, as if a few hundred less would make everything all right. The US has, as far as can be recalled, been the arbitrator and guarantor of the region’s peace process but for some reason the process always ends up lopsided. Interestingly, the beneficiary of all the negotiations, perhaps not surprisingly, is also the US’s top aid recipient. While the Arab world quietly looks the other way, western publications are going overboard blaming the side getting bombed for having instigated the whole thing; they seem to get away with it as well. And ever since the wrong side won in the election, Gaza is deemed unfit for democracy.

Egypt is another story. The west was publicly ecstatic that a dictator had been dethroned and democratic institutions, their favorite buzzword, were being strengthened, up until the wrong side ended up winning the elections. Suddenly, democracy was not the right system for Egypt and a military dictator was deemed a saviour, who quickly and completely eliminated any resistance from the supporters of the deposed government and went on to be the elected president of the country. Obviously the west was again ecstatic about the change and completely ignored the fact that a deposed dictator and a deposed elected president are both concurrently facing trials in Egypt. The question is: if democracy fails in Egypt, why was the previous dictator removed in the first place? The bigger question is, if democracy can fail in one country, and failure it is, why can it not fail in a bunch of other countries?

Afghanistan, after being bombed into oblivion and years of occupation, is again a country that was given the great gift of democracy by the west. Before discussing the great gift for which the Afghans will remain indebted for the foreseeable future, an interesting statistic. Over the last 10 years, US aid, not including other western aid, to Afghanistan for reconstruction has been approximately $ 100 billion. After all that aid, is Afghanistan, a country with a population of just 30 million, a proverbial Paris? Nonetheless, elections in Afghanistan went ahead with great fanfare in 2014 and once again the west publicly congratulated each other for a job well done, until it went sour. Today, the two candidates dispute the results and apparently the election will be audited. No one is sure what the final outcome will be, except that there is a consensus that there is a likelihood of chaos.

Iraq fared no better. Once again, a country under a repressive regime was bombed into oblivion by the west and a dictator removed, permanently. At least that was the narrative. After all that, a lot of money was spent on reconstruction and, finally, the nation was enlightened to true democracy as a parting gift from the west. What is the result? Seriously! Read the headlines. The country is being torn apart, some say into three pieces, and is currently at war. All that is an understatement. Once again, the west came to the aid of this ailing democracy and is currently bombing it to ensure everlasting peace.

Syria is another country where the west has been making concentrated efforts to overthrow a dictator and give the gift of freedom and liberty to the Syrian people. Unfortunately, the Russians threw a spanner in the works, otherwise by now the deal would have been signed, sealed and delivered. In the meanwhile, there has been an uprising and conflict in Syria for the past two years that, according to estimates, had resulted in 100,000 casualties. For the record, the Syrian president was re-elected as late as 2014, which western onlookers obviously term a “farce”; apparently not a genuine or true democracy sold at Wal-Mart!

In Libya, and by now the storyline should be familiar to everyone, a despotic dictator was permanently removed and the nation was given the gift of democracy. Unfortunately, the populace could not understand or appreciate the benefits of a government by, for and of the people, resulting in the eruption of violence between rival militias that continues unabated to date. The parliament, elected in 2014, has very recently requested the west to intervene, which probably means bombing everyone involved.

Turkey should be worried. Western publications have started hinting that the prime minister for over 11 years and now elected as president has grown more autocratic. He is blamed for tear-gassing protests, for assaults on free media and attempts to censor the internet. Till very recently, the president was a revered statesman, and so I wonder what happened. Pretty soon the west might be forced to come to the aid of the Turks, in the name of freedom. Contrary to this, Iran, another democratic Muslim nation, was out of favour with the west till very recently but suddenly it is deemed to be on the path to true democracy and sanctions may be revisited.

The Middle East is a work in progress. The Arab Spring did create awareness within the repressed masses but the west believes it is not enough. The Arabs must not be denied the gift of democracy, after all why should they suffer? And guess what that means.

Pakistan, another democratic Muslim country, need not require any detailed analysis, here at least. The war in North Waziristan does not even make the front page anymore; elections and democracy hog the limelight completely. The nation is politically and viciously polarised to the extent that the government machinery has almost come to a halt. Till this writing, the dharnas (sit-ins) continue.

So what exactly is the coincidence: that all of the above countries are predominantly Muslim or that all of them have tasted democracy, or both? Dear reader, decide for yourselves whether there is such a thing as a coincidence, and if the answer is no, go figure!

The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad. He can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com and on twitter @leaccountant